Contrary to popular belief, GMOs, or transgenic crops, actually can occur naturally. Whether a crop has been genetically modified with or without human intervention tells you precisely nothing about the safety of that crop. While it is true that the other modification techniques such as cross-breeding and mutagenesis can naturally occur without human intervention, so can horizontal gene transfer. Bacteria and viruses regularly transfer genes between different species. In fact, a 2019 study revealed that 39 plant species qualify as natural GMOs. They contain the Agrobacterium microbe, which is the very same bacterium that scientists typically use to create GM crops. These natural GMOs include crops such as bananas, peanuts, Surinam cherries, hops, cranberries, and tea. So, crops created via all of the different genetic modification techniques, including “GMOs” can occur naturally as well as can be created with human intervention to create plant varieties that cannot and do not exist in nature.
